Teenage Dream
by RaddaRada
Summary: Sometimes being a teenager isn't full of clichés. There's internal struggle and being accepted in society. Or by an old classmate...C/DA...


Hello. My first fanfic here and I decided, why not give it a try? It may suck but nothing happens to me. As Jack Dawson once said, _When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. _Beware; The beginning is shitty, (In my opinion at least) and maybe the end too. Yeah, it has some cliches here and there but think of the meaning of teenage dream. I think it's justified. Dorothy Ann might be a little OCC, or so, I believe, but I tried but feel free to tell me if you think so or not. Oh and The Magic School Bus does not belong to me neither do the characters nor the the title, Teenage Dream, which rightfully belongs to Katy Perry, just the plot.

Teenage Dream

She struggle to finish her AP Physics work, after all, she had the position of valetorian to uphold, and damn it, she will honor it, but hearing the annoying voices of the two school sluts was a mosquito buzzing in your ear. You swat at it, but it keeps coming back.

So Dorothy Ann gritted her teeth and continue to finish her work.

" 'Soooooo,' said she, chewing gum that sounded a cow chewing. 'What was the deal with you and Carlos eh?"

Dorothy Ann stilled for a moment. But only for just. She didn't understand why she felt bothered by it.

It's been awhile since he and her talked, the last being in 5th grade graduation saying goodbye to one another and that was it. They never talked with one another again. He, Carlos, grew up to be extremely handsome with his tall height and Latino charm that send half of the female population swooning, and was also known for being a heartbreaker, couldn't settle with a girl if he felt like it, but popular around the school, being in the soccer team, co-captian. All what a girl wanted.

She, well, she, happen to be straight A student, Honors classes, president of the so and so club but really, despite of the titles she had, she knew she was more or less of a nothing. That didn't matter in reality of High school. What really matter was looks and who had the hottest boyfriend or girlfriend. Who slept with who, who was pregnant, drama that made her disgusted with society today. She was ignored by most people, mocked and picked by the girls, and ridicule by the boys. The very few friends she had were the same girls from Ms. Frizzle class back in 3rd grade. Phoebe she was probably the closes to. Wanda and Keesha were good companions, but she didn't have much to talk to them.

Now, her last period, study hall, would be a perfect time to finish her work but the two floozy, Florrie and her friend that Dorothy Ann couldn't bother to remember, were discussing the virtues of which high school boys are real men. Florrie's floozy friend giggled and nudge Florrie slightly.

"I saw you both talking after his soccer practice, and I must say, both of you look _very_ cozy"

Florrie's face broke into a smile, a snide one, certainly pleased of herself.

"Spill!" gushed her friend excitedly. Dorothy Ann focused very hard on the equation of Newton's law.

"_Well_-" The way she said it, _Well,_ with a tone of nonchalant but dying to tell somebody. "-If you must know, I was just passing by the football field when he called me over-"

_Yeah or you invited yourself, _Dorothy Ann gritted her teeth.

"-and we chatted for a bit. I mean, _god, _what a man! He's so well built, he can bench press me if he wanted to!"

"Not that's a problem now is it?" said the floozy slyly. Florrie pretend to gasp in shock and slightly slapped her on the wrist. They both bursted out in giggles and Dorothy Ann wanted to gag. Florrie continued in a low voice

"I invited him to the party this weekend at my house; He says he'll see if he can come, it's obvious that he's gonna come and before the night's over, we'll hook up!"Their squeals were too overbearing for her, she stood up and slammed her books shut before huffing away to the library, ignoring the scoffs and mutters of _how rude_ from Florrie and her friend.

* * *

Despite being told that she was a smart girl, (and knowing this fact, of course) she could not understand the constant irqusome feeling of being bothered or slightly irritated when girls in the halls buzzed about one man. She suppose it was the fact that he was, once again, single after breaking up with his girlfriend, and every girl was jumping at every chance to be the _hopefully _lucky girl who will stop his womanizing ways. Dorothy Ann saw them applying their makeup, mascara thick, eyeliner right, just a bit of lip gloss, between classes, and bit her lip from keep lashing out. _Idiots! If Carlos really had interest in any of you, he would not care seeing you without makeup! _Her cheeks slightly redden a bit, as she thought one time back in 10th, where she was running late to class and bump into him, and after looking at her for a bit, left, but not before commenting on how she look pale.

Maybe a little makeup didn't hurt.

"Dorothy Ann?"

She jumped and looked at Arnold, her partner for English Literature class. He looked at her weirdly before she realized that it was her turn to give the results in the comparisons of the protagonist and antagonist in the book that they were reading.

"Oh. S-Sorry"

Now the question is, where to find it?

* * *

"You want what?"

Dorothy Ann shushed her and hastily looked around the cafeteria. It was lunch and despite it was noisy and couldn't be heard, there was a paranoia of anyone hearing them. The mortification will never cease to exist if anyone found out what Dorothy Ann, of all people, wanted to have. Turning around to Phoebe, she continued in a low, offhand voice.

"I-um-wanted to know, _hypothetically _speaking of course, if by any chance you had makeup in your house"

Phoebe blinked at her. She was slightly taller than the girls by a mere 5'7 but she there was a sense of gentleness in her nature that people sense that fortunately for her, people didn't pick on her. Which Dorothy Ann was relieved because Phoebe was of sensitive nature and any little thing made her tear up.

"Makeup? You want makeup? For what?" she said, surprised. There was no need for her to whisper, for she has a soft, gentle voice that is hard to hear.

"I _said hypothetically_" hissed Dorothy Ann. "-And I never said I needed it. I was wondering about it."

It wasn't in Phoebe's nature to ask, but if you were Dorothy Ann and never once cared about your apperance, it was pretty acceptable. Not that Dorothy Ann needed makeup. There was something about her natural looks that shoned through that mask she try to put up so much. She didn't have the body of a supermodel, but lithe, which Phoebe envied slightly. But compared to the girls, of how they dressed and how well structure their bodies are, Dorothy Ann seem a like a crumb to the well baked chocolate cake. Natural was just not appreciated anymore.

"I don't have makeup, I don't wear it, you know this-" Phoebe said softly. "-majority of it are components of the rainforest. The rainforest! Imagine that!"

And as Phoebe began to rant of the dangerous hazards of world without rainforests, Dorothy Ann decided that makeup was out of the question. For Phoebe's sake at least.

* * *

Holding the lip gloss closely to her, Dorothy Ann carefully unscrewed the lid and took it out. Looking at it, she realized that she must be pathetic for not knowing how to put mere lip gloss on, the only girl in the whole school probably. Not even. She found it in Evan's room, left behind when she was rushing to go to work, on top of the vanity table, and after casually walking in, grabbed it and pocked it. There was no way she was going to ask her little sister the ways of putting lip gloss. There was a reaching point of lowering yourself, and Dorothy Ann felt she had reached it. It seem that it was exageration of her part, overreacting over a small thing like lip gloss, but makeup was so out of her comfort zone, it made her feel awkward and exposed, and lip gloss was more or less the same thing. Now, standing at her locker, she straighten herself, and holding the little mirror she borrowed from Wanda in one hand, and the lip gloss in the other, she calculated how many strokes she needed to put in her upper lip and lower lip.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The gloss smeared off her lip, and she turn around angrily.

It was Carlos, clutching his bookbag off his shoulder, and trying hard not to laugh. Dorothy Ann stammered.

"W-Wha-what are you doing here?"

"The same I can say to you"

She scowled and grabbed the tissue in her sweater to wipe the smear off.

"I have this period off. What does it matter to you anyways?" she spat. There was no reason to be spiteful towards him, but her heart was beating erratically, and she knows in any moment her cheeks will start turning red, but the question was why? He never show acknowledment of her when they passed in the halls expect that one time in 10th nor any interest. "I was heading to class when I saw a girl looking at her hand with a determined look in her face and I was thinking she's crazy but then I saw the blonde hair and I knew it had to be you" He looked smug, and leaning besides the locker aside her, glanced down. She realized with fury that he wasn't trying to hold back laughter, he was _smirking_.

That bastard.

"Well you can go back assured that I am _perfectly_ fine, not crazy, my hair is not completely blonde, and my face did not look determined."

"Yeah it did"

"No it did not"

"When you were trying to apply that lipstick, your eyebrows were almost touching one another. I wouldn't be surprise if they would have become one."

Seething, she slammed her locker, and faced him. "It was lip _gloss_" she said thru her teeth. If he was going to pick on her, she wasn't going to give him the impression that she was getting pretty for someone. He might spread a rumor saying she was snogging with a boy from physics in stairwell B and that image was a horror to even imagine.

His dark brown eyes were gazing at her with an expression she did not recognize, but it was working, for she felt a shiver run thru her, but kept glaring at him. When he spoke, she was surprise how his tone lowered down.

"Don't do it"

"Don't do what?""There's no need to become like one of them."Here she blinked. "Whose trying to become like them? If you're not going to be coherent then let me pass, I don't want to be late for my next cl-"

Carlos step so close to her that Dorothy Ann felt her back pressing into the locker, and she looked at him with wide eyes.

"What are yo-"

"Come on D.A.," The old nickname that was giving to her in 3rd grade struck to her as a painful reminder of how things were so much more easier when one was younger. His eyes gazed at her in ernest, rich dark brown that let her be distracted for a second. Only for one though.

"-putting lip gloss? _Lip gloss_? That's not like you. You can't stand makeup. Why start now?" How did he knew about all of this?

"It is not of your concern really,-" She struggle to get out but was failing. "-but I appreciate it-"

"You look pretty without makeup on"

Dorothy Ann stilled and she swore her heart missed a beat.

"_What?"_ she choked out.

This had to be part of one of the jokes Carlos like putting on people every week. Any minute now, Ralphie and the jocks are going to be popping out of the corner or a class, laughing their asses off, giving high-fives to him, while he would be grinning and pointing at her, saying 'Can't believe you fell for that!' Just the thought of that made her stomach contract and she felt her heart ache.

Carlos gently grabbed her face and made her look up to him. They stood there, her faded blue eyes that people confused for grey and his dark rich sepia eyes looking one another, his with longing and another emotion she couldn't detect, her's with fear and nervousness. The walls she built around her, the ones that provided protection and comfort from the outside world were slowly crumbling down.

"Don't do it. Please. The other skanks try too hard," his voice was being strained prehaps controling his disgust, though Dorothy Ann "You're one of the few who are just real and that's deep. I mean, everyone tries _too _hard. You-" He looked down

"-You're just wonderful"

"Carlos, I-"

He kissed her, soft but firm, softly to know that he was interested in her and firm enough that he did like her more than she though. She thought about fighting him, but gave up on that thought as she dazedly let him run his hands thru her hair.

* * *

End notes: I'm not sure if I'm going to continue on with this. I was going to do this chapter solely on the first line of the lyric, _You think I'm pretty, Without any make-up on_, but looking over it, I realize that it was more of the whole first part of the song so I decided to tweak it a bit, and it was my intent to leave it as a one shot but I think I'll make into a short fic.

If makeup is made out of components of the Rain-forest: It may or may not but I got the idea from the book, _Judy Moody Saves the World_!, where Judy tries to justifies her actions in throwing her family stuff away by saying they were harmful to the environment, including her mother's lipstick

But yeah. Read and Review if you wish it. Depends on the status of my schoolwork, I might upload another chapter soon enough, but I don't know when.


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